Main accused in Ramsha Wassan 'honour' killing case arrested

Accused involved in 20 other cases, says senior police official

KARACHI: Police on Wednesday arrested the main accused in the murder of Ramsha Wassan – killed in the name of 'honour' – after a campaign against the incident was launched by civil society members and political parties.

Ramsha, 16, was from a poor family in Haji Nawab Wassan Village and wanted to marry a boy from another village. This exercise of free will allegedly went against the “rules” that had allegedly been put in place by Zulfiqar Wassan aka Zulfo Wassan, reportedly a cousin of PPP leader Wassan.

SSP Khairpur Umer Tufail confirmed the news about the arrest of Zulfiqar stating the accused "is involved in 20 more cases."

"We have arrested him and starred and inquiry into Ramsha's murder, " added the senior police official.

The police, in its press release, stated that the victim was killed in the name of ‘honour’ and the main accused had previously committed three ‘honour’ killings but was never arrested and “was a symbol of terror in the area”.

The police did not elaborate on why Zulfiqar was not arrested for murders committed earlier.

“The FIR was registered on behalf of the state in order to avert pressure and threats to the victim’s family for withdrawing the case later on, and to prevent compound ability,” added the statement.



Sources privy to the development told The Express Tribune that Zulfiqar surrendered because of pressure on PPP local leaders who were allegedly protecting him for a long time.

Karachi civil society protest against killing of #RamshaWassan #JusticeForRamshaWassan & #ArrestZulfiqarWassan pic.twitter.com/2VC4a93wAA

— Saeed Sangri (@Sangrisaeed) February 3, 2019

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had also taken notice of the issue and ordered police to arrest the culprits without any delay. “I will not tolerate such incidents. Please arrest the main accused involved in the killing of the teenage girl,” the chief minister said.



Zulfiqar is allegedly the ringleader of a notorious criminal gang in Khairpur. He is also the cousin of PPP leader Manzoor Wassan and nephew of former PPP MNA Nawab Wassan.

According to police records, he had been involved in more than two dozen cases of kidnapping, murder and other crimes. He currently is on bail in most of the cases, while a few have allegedly been disposed of with support from provincial government officials.